Ease the Passing
by Scribe of Turesa
Summary: Sometimes there is only one thing you can do...ONESHOT.


_**A/N: I started thinking about how deep the need for revenge would go for the Foot and the Purple Dragons in wanting to avenge the Shredder's banishment and ultimately just get the guys to stop interfering…and this popped into my brain and wouldn't leave so…WARNING: character death.**_

**Ease the Passing**

_**Raphael's POV**_

I sigh as the light from the streets fade with every step further into the sewers.

Not exactly thrilled with the possibility of confronting Leo after the fight we had earlier. Said some pretty nasty things, not to mention the fact that if he doesn't have a black eye it'll be a miracle.

I flinch as I remember Splinter's order to stop and my refusal.

Practice is going to suck tomorrow.

I stumble, trip, and curse as I stand back up.

Muttering obscenities I'm thankful that no one was around to see that.

My hands are…sticky.

The smell hits me first and then I hear it.

_Blood._

Then low guttural moans, a tapping noise, and struggled breathing. I pull out my cell and carefully point the light downward, stomach taunt.

I nearly scream in horror at what I see.

He's broken, shattered, bloody.

He's _convulsing_.

I drop to my knees and feel the blood start to soak into my kneepads.

I can't move, can't think.

He whimpers, seizes, and goes limp.

Groaning the whole time.

As I shakily move the light down his body I shudder.

His legs might as well be _gone_ they're mangled beyond repair, his hips look broken.

The plastron is splintered, cracking, pulling apart.

His head is… I choke back a scream….his head is smashed in.

Blood is _everywhere_.

His hands twitch on the cement.

Then I notice the blood trail and swallow to prevent myself from heaving.

He dragged himself.

He _dragged_ himself like this.

What should I do?

_What should I do?_

He must've came out of the lair after me, to follow me, to bring me home.

Did Splinter order him to?

Or did he just come after me?

I see the bruise on his face and twist to avoid retching on him.

He moans.

Oh God he's unconscious and he's still in pain…

I feel whatever was left in y stomach come up as I press my hands to the cement and fight to think through the horror.

What can I do?

_Is there anything I can do?_

My head turns toward him as my stomach clenches.

I don't need to Donnie to tell me he won't make it.

I pick up the cell and move it back over him.

I choke back a sob but steel myself.

It's the only thing I can do.

Setting the cell down I gather my quaking brother in my arms and cradle him against my chest.

I choke back a sob as I brace his head and shoulders.

He moans in agony, convulsing again.

"I love you bro…I'm so sorry," I whisper.

It sounds like a firecracker and then he's limp in my arms.

His body starts to cool, I don't know how long I sit there holding him but Don finds me, screams and drops to his knees.

Mikey hesitates behind him before sobbing uncontrollably.

"Who?" Don chokes.

I don't know…I think I've forgotten how to speak anyway.

"Raph who did this?" Don pleads.

I shake my head slowly.

Mikey weeps down the hall between his retching.

I've forgotten how to speak I think.

Don touches my hand and I jerk away, clutching Leo tightly.

His head lulls and Don notices.

"Raph?" he manages, "you didn't…Raph?"

I can't breathe, I can't talk, I can't think.

"Oh my GOD!" Don shrieks.

Then it hits me.

Don thinks I did this to him.

I look, slowly, down the hall, wondering how far Leo drug himself before he couldn't move anymore.

Don hits me and I flinch, dropping Leo's limp body with a startled yelp.

It sounds so foreign coming out of my mouth.

Don slaps me again and I cringe.

"Donnie" I choke out, "he…he…he…was…_hurting."_

My voice sounds so child-like.

Don stops his attack as I begin to rock back and forth against my will.

"_HE WAS HURTING!" _I scream suddenly.

Don whimpers before looking at Leo's body.

_His body._

"I'm s_orry,_" I whimper, "I wanted to stop the pain for him…"

A mantra begins to unravel my mind, I think I'm going insane…

_I killed my brother. I killed my brother. I killed my brother. I killed my brother. I killed my brother. I killed my brother…_

Do crazy people wonder if they are going insane?

I think I passed out because the next thing I remember is standing next to the grave with Splinter stroking my hand.

"Raphael, let us go inside," he murmurs.

I whimper and look at him.

"It…it was all I could do," I choke out.

He reaches up and cups my cheek.

"It was all I could do," I insist.

"Hush my son," he soothes, "I know. You eased his passing."

I tremble against my father's hand.

"Do you all hate me?" I choke out, tears falling uninhibited down my cheeks.

"No," Splinter tells me gently, "no Raphael, we don't"

"But I killed Leo…did you know that? I killed him…I broke his…I broke his….I broke his neck," I choke.

He pulls me to him and cradles me as I crumple to the ground.

"Shhhhh," he soothes.

**Don's POV**

I watch from the farmhouse window as Raph finally snaps out of his catatonia.

Its been three years.

After I found him and he "fled" I never felt more guilty.

He did what he could for Leo, the only thing he honestly could've done, but it broke him.

Shattered his mind so severely that by the time I got to him and Leo, he was already disappearing into his own mind.

I hit him, hoping that the pain would snap him back to us, it only drove him away faster.

I regret that, I will always regret that.

Maybe now this broken family can heal.

I turn and reach for the phone to the lair.

Mikey was the only one who could bear to go back with April and Casey.

Its time we all gathered together again.

I glance at the calendar.

How fitting that we will be together tomorrow…it would've been his twenty-fifth birthday.

**A/N: well…. "wipes tears away"…**


End file.
